But all the nice moments we experienced during the expedition wouldn't happen if there were no people who made this expedition possible.

 

First we would like to thank our group leaders Hugues Lantuit and Michael Fritz for the major part in expedition organisation which has already started last year. We are grateful for the additional funding and contribution to expedition from Isla Myers-Smith, Nina Stark and each of us owes big thanks to Gavin Manson for getting the funding for the helicopter.

 

There are numerous logisticians at AWI and other cooperating institutions that made a lot of work for us. Among them the logistician at AWI Potsdam Jan Kahl did a lot of paperwork and drove us to the airport at not very pleasant wake-up time.

 

(Photo: Jaroš Obu) Evening at Campbell Lake.Special thanks go to Herschel Island territorial park ranges Richard Gordon, Samuel McLeod, Edward McLeod, Deon Arey, Ricky Joe. They were supporting our stay in the base in many different ways. They were taking care for the all the infrastructure, supplying us with water and firewood. We could borrow many tools and always count on their help in the field and their boat rides.

 

I would like to mention our silent member Ute Kuschel at the end. We are grateful for all the small things that she did to make expedition better. She was accepting all our samples and worked hard in our lab tent to supply us with the first results. She also did a lot of cooking and dishwashing instead of us who sometimes stayed in the field for too long in the evening.

 

The next day after our arrival in Inuvik, the geomagnetic storm from the Sun hit the Earth and thrilled us with the possibility to see the northern lights. It was getting dark enough during the dusk, but that evening the clouds obscured the sky and concealed the northern lights that were visible even from space.

 

(Photo: Jaroš Obu) Watching the northern lights by the campfire.The rest of geomagnetic activity gave us hope that we might see aurora next day. We went to the nearby lake with a guitar in the evening and when it got too cold, the campfire kept us warm during the waiting. As soon as it got dark enough, we spotted silhouettes in the sky that were moving too fast to be clouds.

 

After some time they got greenish cast and amazed those of us who saw it for the first time. Unfortunately the northern lights disappeared pretty quickly and except for subtle greenish light on horizon we saw nothing.

 

But the waiting was not in vain. After one hour green curtains approached from the south and started their dance above us. They were affecting us with great wonder until the dawn.

 

That was for some of us the best experience that happened right at the end of expedition and probably the most impressive memory we will bring home with us.